Tradition
by otomriddle
Summary: Since as far as Abraxas Malfoy could remember, he knew his destiny. But then again, that was nothing new, for all his friends had the exact same path ahead of them.


I literally just wanted to talk about Magical Politics. And History. Sorry

* * *

Since as far as Abraxas Malfoy could remember, he knew his destiny. But then again, that was nothing new, for all his friends had the exact same path ahead of them.

Malfoy, like any other pure-blood child, would work with Politics. He could, of course, have another economical income on his free time – his father, for one, liked to run illegal sex houses, or so his mother yelled every once in a while. But that, Abraxas knew, was nothing but a hobby to him. His father profession, like Abraxas', had been chosen for him 300 years ago, with the first Malfoy who got a chair in the Wizard Council.

Said that, it's obvious an eight years old boy wouldn't know exactly how politics functioned, and what he would be doing once he got there. His father never took the time to really clarify how the Wizard's Legal System worked – and there was not such a thing as a book explaining it. All Abraxas could find in the Manor's library was a dusty old copy of a history book, where he learned how the Parliament's division came to be:

" _(...) As it's known, the Wizards' and Muggles' History are usually connected. Therefore, once the lower muggle population's demands for political representations in the Parliament showed positive results, the lower wizard population – a.k.a. the muggleborns – decided to follow their fellow comrades' example. In 1623, the manufacturers of cotton and line, a class made mostly of muggleborns, started a riot that would last for three months. During such time, other muggleborns joined the cause, which lead to a total stop of society for a whole day, in an episode later known as the Riot of July 7th ._

 _In face of such popular demonstrations, the monarchy and the nobles voted for the acceptance of the biggest demand of the rioters: the creation of the House of Common in the wizardry political system. With clear inspiration on its muggle counterpart, the magical version of the House of Common would have 134 places for wizards and witches elected by the lower classes. The nobles, on the other hand, would still maintain their chairs on the Parliament, which could and would be later passed down to their heirs._

 _It was on 19 of December that the House of Common and the House of Nobles were inaugurated, each with 134 places, totalizing 268 chairs on the Parliament (...)"_

Abraxas was proud to say he read all those paragraphs without dozing off to sleep even once. It struck him mudbloods, as his father called them, could have political representations. To know there was a part of the Parliament that would be filled with filthy blood didn't amuse him.

Once the boy started Hogwarts, it got positively easier to get the information on how his future work in the politics would go. Not that it got any easier to actually _gather_ that information. Abraxas was pretty sure prof. Binns had gave a whole lecture on the political and law system, both muggle and magical, but the boy slept through all and any of his classes.

Luckily, he had a friend – Tom, he was called – who either had sleeping problems to manage to stay awake during Magical History's classes, or could take notes while sleeping. Either way, Abraxas got hold of such notes – at a certain price, of course, but nothing he couldn't pay.

 _"- until the beginning of the XIX century, the House of Nobles held the ultimate power, with the so called POWER OF INTERPOSING, where the pure-bloods could oppose any and all laws proposed by the House of Common. Only in 1854 this exclusive prerogative of opposing was abolished, after social pressure from the working class._

 _\- in 1707, the wizardry monarchy was assimilated by the muggle one through the marriage between the heir of the wizardry throne, George of Denmark, and the heir of the muggle throne, Anne. Their first intent was to unite both crowns in one blood, in a similar attempted to the at the time successful union between England, Scotland, and Ireland. However, it proved to be a foolish errand, for instead of uniting powers, George actually managed to lose his crown. In an unprecedented alliance, both the House of Commons and House of Nobles passed a law that reformed the whole Political System. Now, the former President of the Houses would receive the title of Ministry of Magic, with ruling power._

 _\- the House of Nobles wanted to get rid of the Monarchy Family for their new alliance with the muggles (remembering that this specific House was composed strictly by pure-bloods). The House of Common, on the other hand, though it would be best to have a central power in which they could actually vote on._

 _\- the Ministry of Magic, much like the President of the Houses, was elected by both Houses through a direct system. While the House of Commons had the prerogative of nominating the candidates to the office, the House of Nobles had to ratify the names, while simultaneously having the power to decide in case of a tie._

 _\- this system has survive to this day, although now the Ministry is both Head of State and Head of Government (see The Principles of International Magic Law, by Arcturus Artemious, for the difference), differing of the ongoing system in the muggle community._

 _\- honestly, professor Binns couldn't be more boring. I lost 10 minutes of class thinking about something else – get the notes with someone later._

 _\- the House of Nobles, on the other hand, hasn't changed since it's debuting. It still has the same 134 places, and it's still mostly – not to say exclusively – taken by pure-bloods. Their chairs are passed down for the next generation, although it can be transferred to someone else for a certain amount of time. This was a recurrent transition during the First War, when many wealthy pure-blood families flew the country to safer places, selling their chairs on the House of Nobles for a time._

 _\- there's a law, from 1872, that stops the families with chairs in the House of Noble to sell their places for good. Their chairs can only be transferred for 2 years at time – although their contracts can be extended indeterminately if the parts so want, as long as they sign them terms every couple of years._

 _\- if the rightful owner of the chair dies, and the place has been transferred, doesn't matter if the contract is still on – the heir immediately gets their place on the House of Nobles, being necessary a new contract if the other part wishes to maintain their position. This system has caused many lawsuits throughout time._

 _\- please say it's lunch time."_

Abraxas was surprised to the amount of subject the old ghost whom they called professor could pass during his lecture. The boy had been half sure the man simply floated around the room, whispering sleeping spells under his breath.

Well, at least now he knew how the system worked – more or less so. He thought about asking Tom if he knew more about the magical politic system when he gave his notes back, but then decided against the idea. Although his housemate was brilliant, he also made Abraxas extremely nervous.

He didn't really know why, though. He preferred not to know.

During the Christmas of 1941, Abraxas gathered enough courage to ask his father how the House of Nobles really worked:

"Well, well, well. Look who's finally taking interest in the family business!" His father said, reclining against his tall chair while his mother looked at him with her mouth pressed into thin lips. "The House of Nobles is very ancient and, therefore, very powerful. It used to be the _most_ powerful institution on the game, but sadly those beneath us are also in bigger number. Therefore, for some democracy reason, as they like to call, they've managed to steal some of our influence into the House of Mudbloods."

"I thought they were called House of Commons." Abraxas blurted, furrowing his eyebrows. Maybe he had lost that class, too.

"Oh, they are!" His father answered, chuckling. "It's just a recurring joke among us pure-bloods. See, the House of Commons is made basically of mudblods – with the eventual blood-traitor among them. So, we call them for what they are," He stopped for a moment, sipping in his pipe, which Dobby had brought to him sometime during the conversation. "They have the power to propose laws and nominate candidates to Ministry of Magic. We have the power to interpose both. In this way, they have to always nominate someone that they know we would not immediately oppose – sometimes they nominate one candidate that we strongly object, but to compensate they also throw the name of someone who is sympathetic to the pure-bloods causes, which make us accept both the nominations. With the opposing laws, well, that is a bit harder..."

"Why?" Abraxas asked, realizing he was in the tip of his chair. His father had never talked for so long with him, nor with such an interest. He was gleeful with the attention.

"The House of Nobles can interpose the laws that come from the House of Mudblods, but it is not a normal occurrence, for they have the same power against us. It's a rather recent power, by the way, so they are very eager to use it. We have to be very careful against what laws we oppose, or else they might stop all our works from ever reaching the public. It's kind of a game, you see: they won't propose outrageous mudblood loving laws, because we won't accept them. We won't propose amazingly mudblood restriction laws, because they won't accept it. Either way, the only ones who can make both Houses accept laws they normally would not, or oppose laws they normally would let pass by, is the magical community."

"How come?" The boy asked, pushing his hair, which had fallen in his face, back to place.

"People hit where it hurts, and the Parliament does just what they want." His mother answered, talking for the first time since the beginning of dinner. The man looked at her between narrowed eyes, but shook his head.

"Blatantly put, but on point. Put enough popular pressure into the Houses – and they gonna do what they have to."

"And what about the Wizengamot?" Abraxas continued, jumping slightly on his seat.

"Oh, well, it's our Supreme Court, as you know. They apply our laws in the last instance, but there aren't many cases that get to them. They have 300 chairs, that are taken by old occupants of the Parliament. They are usually righteous, having done something big for the magical community at their time – or so is what it is said, anyway. In practice, before they die or retire, they leave a few names of replacements with the Ministry of Magic, and he will be one the one to pick a new name. It is usual that he chooses the first name of the list, but there's no law against him picking another one, even if not in said list. It's rare, but it has been known to happen. Well, enough of this already!" His father said, getting up suddenly, his chair making a loud noise while it dragged on the ground. "Talking about politics usually make me angry."

"Just another question, dad!" Abraxas begged, jumping to his feet. His father stopped midway, looking over his shoulder. "All the pure-bloods heirs have to take their family's chair on the House of Nobles? Or they usually... Transfer it?"

That was something that been stuck in Abraxas's mind as of late. He realized, by talking to a certain Tom Riddle, that he didn't want to get stuck in magical law and politics. He wanted to travel the world, finding new, forgotten magics. He wanted to do the never done, the unthinkable, the groundbreaking.

He didn't want to be a Malfoy. He wanted to be Abraxas.

His father looked at him for a long moment, only the sound of the clock being heard, ticking somewhere far away.

"Yes," He said, turning his back to his son. "Yes, they don't have any other choice. It's tradition, it's how our blood work."

Abraxas agreed.

He always agreed.


End file.
